...HOLLOW AVOWALS OF HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION – TIME FOR AN AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL BILL OF RIGHTS? JULIE CASSIDY* Unlike the constitutions of many nations, such as the United States of America and the Republic of South Africa, the constitutions of the Australian States and Territories and the Commonwealth Constitution Act 1901 (UK) contain no bill of rights. Australia is the only western democracy without a federal bill of rights. The debate regarding the need for a bill of rights necessitates an understanding of what human rights the people of Australia already enjoy. If sufficient protection can be found in existing sources, does Australia really need a federal bill of rights? Opponents of a bill of rights state that we have sufficient protection from arbitrary government intervention in our personal affairs and thus a bill of rights is unnecessary. There are a number of potential sources of human rights in Australia that might provide the suggested existing protection, including the common law, specific domestic legislation, international law and constitutional law. Each of these sources of human rights has, however, important limitations. The focus of this article is on the inadequacy of the Australian constitutions as a source of purported protection. This in turn suggests that an alternative source of rights is needed – a federal bill of rights? In the course of this analysis the author makes suggestions for reform; specifically how a federal bill of rights may address the paucity...
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...Their principles include: - Equality under the law and freedom of expression: non-discrimination - human rights are universal: every human, regardless of any particular qualities, is entitled to them in full - human rights must be upheld regardless of the prevailing political, religious, economic or cultural systems Social justice principles enable the fulfilment of and help to protect universal human rights. These include access, equity, rights and participation. Social injustice is where one portion of society has restrictions in any of these areas due to a quality such as their gender, ethnicity, appearance, sexuality, etc.; or because of historical or current human rights threats. Examples of this include genocide and colonialism: where people of one culture entered another land in order to dominate, subdue and overpower the indigenous peoples there a massive breach of human rights occurred; and this affects the generations of descendants of those who experienced this. Colonialism is cultural imperialism and sought to destroy or eliminate other forms of knowledge, values and beliefs in order to impose its own by rule of law. In any country that this occurred in, the indigenous peoples need social justice which can only occur through firstly upholding their human rights, and then seeking to rectify past and present damages...
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...Human Rights 1. The nature and Development of human rights The definition of human rights * Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) sets out the fundamental purpose for recognizing human rights * In the general sense, human rights refer to basic rights and freedoms that are believed to belong to all human beings * As stated in the UDHR, these rights differ from ordinary rights under domestic law as they are considered to be universal, inalienable (cannot be taken away) and inherent to all people. Developing recognition of human rights * The abolition of slavery * The campaign for universal suffrage * The trade union movement and labour rights * The right of a group to self-determination * Emerging environmental rights * The attempt to establish a right to peace The abolition of slavery * Slavery is a type of forced labour where a person is considered to be the legal property of another * Slavery was practiced legally until the 20th century * Common forms of slavery involved: debt slavery (forced to pay off a loan with labour), slavery as punishment for crime, prisoners of war committed to slavery * Moves to abolish slavery and slave trading began in the 12th century, e.g. Iceland abolished slavery in 1117 * During the 17th – 19th century, the transatlantic slave trade (the trading of African people by Europeans, transporting them as slaves from Africa to the colonies of the New World) was in action as Europeans...
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...Australian culture has been shaped by two disparate ideologies, the initial white Australia policy, and the current policy of multiculturalism. The white Australia policy comprised legislation designed to safeguard Australia as a nation reserved for white residents, whereas multiculturalism is a process that constructively integrates cultural diversity into the national identity. This essay argues that the white Australia policy has had a significant impact on Australian culture and continues to overshadow the success of multiculturalism. First, this essay explains the motivations and legislations that established the white Australia policy, and the subsequent effects on early Australian society. Next, it discusses the discarding of the white Australia policy and the implementation of multiculturalism. Finally, this essay assesses the impact of the white Australia policy on contemporary Australian culture. During the late 1800s there was public and political discussion as to Australia’s future as a white nation (Bulletin 1886). This was prompted by the frequent racial tension and sporadic violence between white settlers and Chinese immigrants. The 1901 parliamentary debates concerning immigration show that although a belief in white racial supremacy was predominant, commercial concerns and fears of invasion were also involved. For example, some members extolled the superiority of a ‘snow-white’ Australia (Commonwealth of Australia 1901 pp. 4626, 4648, 4666). Whereas, other...
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...aims to give an accessible introduction to an area of law that is the subject of change or public debate. International law 1 overview What is international law? – difference between international law and domestic law – Why do States obey international law? – subjects of international law – How do international law and domestic law interact? 4 sources of international law Jus cogens – international conventions and treaties – Australian treaty practice – custom – general principles of law – judicial decisions and writings of publicists – ‘hard law’ and ‘soft law’. 8 states What is a State? – rights of States – self-determination – creation and recognition of new States – case studies. AUTHOR NOTE: Jane Stratton currently leads corporate social responsibility programs in a leading Sydney law firm, teaches law students at a Sydney university and independently, undertakes community development projects in Western Sydney. Her work has included legal and policy roles in the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, the Australian Human Rights Commission, UN High Commission for Refugees and the ICTY. She has experience in litigious and political advocacy. Jane holds qualifications in law (Honours) and in Arts (Honours) from ANU and a Masters of Law from New York University. ACKNOWLEDGMENT: The publisher would like to thank Dr Ben Saul, Director, Sydney Centre for International and Global Law, for reading and commenting on the text. DESIGN: Bodoni...
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...sector to protect the rights of children and their families. The purpose of COAG is to ensure children are not violated through collecting data and conducting investigations. The ‘COAG report’ found that in 2007-08 there were over 55.000 reports of child abuse and neglect within Australia. However since the report has been conducted there has been a dramatic reduce in the number of abuse and neglect cases within Australia. The COAG National Framework is effective in meeting the needs of children and protecting them as the highest priority. The child's welfare within Australia is unsuccessful in prioritising the rights and protection of children however the COAG National Framework addresses these issues and has been pushing for change in the recognition of child welfare. Furthermore, the COAG promotes a safe and welcoming environment for children to assist an early tertiary child protection program. The COAG National Framework ultimately aims to protect the most vulnerable families and children from neglect and abuse. The effectiveness of the COAG can be measured by the successful cases used through welfare benefits and assistance. For example, Holzer, Lewig, Bromfield and Arney (2008) which protects the rights of children to establish and implement child welfare reforms. On the basis of the evidence provided, the COAG National Framework is effective in addressing the protection of children in abuse and neglect cases and families. Finally the slogan being “protecting children is...
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...Legal rights are those bestowed onto a person by a given legal system. The law of obligations is one branch of private law under the civil law legal system. It is the body of rules that organises and regulates the rights and duties arising between individuals. Both parents and children have rights and obligations regarding the idea of discipline, and in Australia it is effective, however, only to a certain extent. Notions of justice regarding fairness, equality, access, timeliness, enforceability and resource efficiency need to be addressed when considering these rights and obligations of parents and children regarding discipline. Discipline in the form of smacking in more recent years has become a fairly controversial topic. It is debatable in the sense that new concepts have been raised in that smacking may have long and short-term psychological effects on the child. However, it is also known that there is a clear difference between smacking and child abuse, and in terms of child abuse Australia has many forms legislation in protecting the rights of child in its current state. It is ineffective in terms whereby parents in Australia have the right to implement discipline in their own terms, on the grounds they are not not overseeing boundaries in physical punishment constituting child abuse, therefore resulting in psychological trauma. Using physical pain or even just a threat of physical pain to teach/educate/better a persons decision may be considered to many wrong. The...
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...AUSTRALIAN LEGAL SYSTEM IN CONTEXT BLB1101 Semester 1 2014 Table of contents Topic Page number Unit rationale and learning outcomes 3 Calendars – lectures and tutorial workshops 4 Tutorial workshop exercises 5-11 Assessment information 12-23 Assessment tasks 12 Part 1 – VCAT and Applied law 12 Part 2 – VCAT and Contextual analysis 13 Hypothetical Case Studies 15 • Residential Tenancies List 15 • Planning and Environment List 18 • Anti-Discrimination list 20 Assessment criteria 22 Reading guide 24-28 Su Robertson, Unit Coordinator su.robertson@vu.edu.au 9919 1823 Unit rationale BLB1101 Australian Legal System in Context: • Provides you with a working foundation in the technical structure of Australian legal systems, using applied practical teaching and learning methods; • Exposes you to ways of making sense of Australian legal systems in a legal academic way using the themes of economics, sustainability, race and gender; • Inducts you in the ways of the lawyer, including appropriate language use and structure, ethics and legal professional behaviour, using reflective, applied and theory-based teaching and learning methods. Learning outcomes Upon successful completion of BLB1101, you will: • Be able to identify and understand the components of Australian legal systems, how these components intersect and interact, and how lawyers use these systems; • Be able to identify and use the language...
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...Topic One: Operations Students Learn to: Examine contemporary business issues to: * Discuss the balance between cost and quality in operations strategy Cost and quality are two performance objectives of a business. Cost and quality generally oppose each other as performance objectives as for a business to achieve quality this will generally cost money and then increase costs. * Examine the impact of globalisation on operations strategy * Identify the breadth of government policies that affect operations management * Explain why corporate social responsibility is a key concern in operations management Investigate aspects of business using hypothetical situations and actual business case studies to: * Describe the features of operations management for businesses in a tertiary industry * Assess the relationship between operations and the other key business function in two actual businesses * Explain how operations strategy van help a business sustain its competitive advantage * Recommend possible operations strategies for one hypothetical business Students Learn About Role of operations management * Strategic role of operations management – cost leadership, good/service differentiation A businesses competitive advantage refers to the features implemented by a business that create an advantage over its competitors. A business can make long-term (strategic), medium term (), or short term () decisions. Efficiency refers to achieving...
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...Topic Two: Human Rights Rights The nature and development of concepts of human rights. State sovereignty, ‘natural law’ doctrine, historic constitutional documents, movement for slavery abolition, trade unionism, universal suffrage and universal education Human Rights Human rights are the basic rights to which all human beings are entitled to. The most recognized document in modern human rights is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, created by the UN. Human rights can be said to come from the idea of ‘natural law’. Natural Law Doctrine is the idea that some laws come from God or higher reasoning whether they have been written down or not. State sovereignty State sovereignty refers to the power of a state to have control over its territory and its subject. It’s important for protecting human rights because it means someone whose rights are being abused can flee to a safe country for protection. Because it restricts the actions of neighbours and other concerned states, also allows human rights abuses to go unpunished within the boundaries of a state. Movement for the Abolition of Slavery Slavery is the state of being under the control of another person. Trade Unionism Trade unionism is the collective organisation of workers formed to protect the rights of individuals from the power exercised by employees. The benefits of trade unionism include: * Prevention of child labour * Prevention of forced labour * Fair treatment of workers ...
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...Summary Australian law is based on the culture of English law. The following characteristics derive from the English background of our law: * A system of representative democracy, using parliaments to make laws. See chapters 7 & 8. * A legal profession divided formally or informally into solicitors and barristers. See chapter 3. * A ‘common law’ system: * The system of law derived from the English legal system. Uses judicially decided cases as the basic form of law. See chapter 10. * The way that the law is made: Judges make law based on decided cases (precedents) and develop sets of legal principles which emerge from the judgments in decided cases.’ See chapter 12, 13, and 14. * The category of laws which grew from the medieval royal courts (‘the courts of common law’) and other areas of law, which came from the medieval Lord Chancellor’s role (‘equity’). See chapter 10. * Decision making in courts after an adversarial trial: derived from historical ‘trial by battle’ introduced by Normans. The battle has since then become a verbal one. See chapter 2. * A court system for dispute resolution: See chapter 11. However, Australian law has developed distinct characteristics of its own: * A federal system made up of a Commonwealth and States and Territories: separates out the powers of different bodies of government. See chapter 8. * A limited recognition of indigenous customary law: Mabo (No 2) held that native title to land could...
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...are mandated reporters required to report? Commonwealth law What protections are given to reporters? About whom can notifications be made? What type of concerns must be reported, and what may be reported? In what cases can child protection and welfare agencies respond? What are the benefits of mandatory reporting requirements? Are there challenges with the introduction of mandatory reporting? Further reading Authors / Acknowledgements Share or comment Email Facebook Twitter Digg reddit del.icio.us StumbleUpon Leave a comment This sheet examines legal provisions requiring specified people to report suspected abuse and neglect to government child protection services in Australia.1 This document is provided as a guide only. Individuals are encouraged to contact the relevant department or organisation to clarify requirements in their states or territories, or in relation to legislation. For more information, see Reporting Abuse and Neglect: State and Territory Departments Responsible for Protecting Children. What is mandatory reporting? Mandatory reporting is a term used to describe the legislative requirement imposed on selected classes of people to report suspected cases of child abuse and neglect to government authorities. Parliaments in all Australian states and territories have enacted mandatory reporting laws of some description. However, the laws are not the same across all jurisdictions. The main differences...
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...International Law and Municipal Law Issues: • Does domestic law override international law? • Does international law apply domestically? 1 Theoretical Issues • Monism: Essentially exponents of natural-law theories; consequently, they regard all law as part of the same universal normative order, with municipal law deriving its binding force by way of delegation from international law. Thus, monists consider international law a part of domestic law. • Dualism: Essentially exponents of legal positivists – therefore, they have an essentially consensual view of international law, believing that international and municipal law were two separate legal orders. International law must be incorporated into domestic law, for it to apply domestically. • Harmonisation: Assumes that international law forms part of municipal law but acknowledges that on occasions when there was a conflict between the two systems, a municipal judge would be bound by the jurisdictional rules of the domestic domain. 2 Primacy of International Law 1 Municipal Tribunals Whether international law has primacy over municipal law depends on each particular country’s constitution. In Australia, there is no express incorporation of international obligations in Australia. Implementing legislation is required for both treaty and customary international law to apply. See below for further information. 2 International Tribunals A State cannot invoke domestic laws as an excuse for failure...
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...Part C 1. What is an award? How it created and what is its purpose? Award is legally enforceable document by an industrial tribunal containing the minimum terms and conditions of employment that an employer in industry must provide. It grants all employees in one industry or employer have the same conditions of employment and wages. Awards are introduced to protect employees' wages and conditions. Awards cover things such as pay, overtime rates and conditions, special leave arrangements, special allowances and hours of work. Awards are issued by Fair Work Australia, which is the tribunal set up by government to perform this function. Fair Work Australia has responsibility for making and varying awards in the national workplace relations system. A representative union can negotiates an employee’s award on their behalf. This negotiation is funded by the members of the union, even though it applies to all employees. Employees can get their award from their union if you're a member or from Fair Work Australia. 2. What is workers’ compensation and who is covered by it? Workers compensation is insurance policy will be covered under WorkCover Queensland to protect all employees from injury, illness or disease. The compensation can be monetary and non-monetary compensation such as medical care that related to the injury. The objective of this insurance are to Provide medical treatment and income security to injured workers, Ensure employers meet the costs associated with injuries...
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...Creating legally binding agreements Who has the right to enforce contractual obligations? * Contractual obligations only exist between those who have agreed to undertake them. * It follows that only parties to the contract have the right to bring an action to enforce it. This is called ‘privity’ of contract. * Price v Easton (1833) 4 B & Ad 433 * Coulls v Bagot's Executor & Trustee Co Ltd (1967) 119 CLR 460 Price v Easton 1. Original debt owed by builder to Mr Price. But the builder cannot pay 2. Mr Easton makes a promise to the builder that he will pay the builder’s debt to Price if the builder does some work for Easton 3. Builder does the work for Easton, but Easton does not pay Price. Price sues Easton to enforce promise Easton made to the builder Coulls v Bagot's Executor 1. A contract was made for stone to be quarried by O’Neill in exchange for a payment of royalties 2. Under the contract, the royalties are to be paid direct to Mrs Coulls 3. After Mr Coulls dies, his executor (Bagot) wants to know if Mrs Coulls has a contractual right to the royalties The element of intention to be bound * An agreement is only legally enforceable if the parties intended to be legally bound. * Note: The ‘intention to be legally bound’ is important because it serves to distinguish between contracts and agreements that are not enforceable in the courts. * Intention is to be judged objectively. The court asks whether...
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